Chapter 6 — Hiding for Five Years, One Night Becomes Legend

“Grandpa told me to hide it.”

“Your uncle told you to hide it.”

“Yes.”

“So your uncle told you to reveal yourself today?”

"No. It's my own decision. If I don't act, everyone will die."

Chu Duc Tieu was silent for a long time. Finally he lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, and looked out at the distant forest.

“Hua Bac.”

“Yes.”

“Now you come with me for a trip.”

“Where are you going?”

“Go to regiment.”

He glanced at me, in the dim smoke, his old face was full of fatigue but shone with a strange excitement.

“Someone wants to see you.”

【Chapter 6】 On the cross-country vehicle driving back to the regiment, I asked a question.

“Battalion commander, who wants to see me?”

Chu Duc Tieu held the steering wheel and did not turn back.

"Don't ask too much. You just need to know one thing - your kid has caused a big disaster."

Causing disaster? I saved the lives of 11 brothers and that's called causing disaster?

“Battalion commander —”

“I mean the fact that you hid your job for 5 years.”

He glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

"A person has been hiding in a front-line combat unit for 5 years, all the test data is fake, and no abnormalities can be found in the records. Do you know what that proves?"

I remained silent.

“Proves that you have extremely terrifying anti-reconnaissance and camouflage abilities. Proves that you control your body with precision to the point of perversion. Proves that over the past 5 years — every exam, every test, you have played the role of a useless person perfectly.”

His voice lowered.

“That ability, if placed in any intelligence agency, is the quality of a top agent.”

Me: “…”

“Do you understand now? You didn't cause trouble. You were exposed.”

The cross-country vehicle turned onto the main road. I looked at the trees receding outside the window, my mind was confused. Grandpa, when you told me that in the past, you probably didn't think about this consequence, right? He only said to "hide until the age of 28", but did not say what to do if he was discovered. To the regiment. Wait — The car didn't stop in front of the regimental building, but turned into an independent courtyard I had never been to before. Outside there are guards holding guns.

“Battalion Commander, this is —”

“Be quiet, get out of the car.”

I got out of the car. Follow Chu Duc Tieu into the yard, go through a hallway, finally stopping in front of a closed door. There is no nameplate on the door. Chu Duc Tieu knocked three times.

“Come in.”

A deep, resonant voice. The door opens. The room is not big. A table, a chair, on the table is a laptop and a stack of documents. There is a person sitting on a chair. Around 50 years old, crew cut, extremely normal appearance - the type of person who would be thrown out on the street and no one would look twice. But his eyes were not normal at all. When those eyes looked at me, the goosebumps on my back stood up. It's an instinctive reflex. Tai Chi is practiced to a deep level, the feeling of "danger" is engraved deep into the bones. This person — Very dangerous. Extremely dangerous.

“Hua Bac.” He spoke, his tone calm and not very military-like.

“Yes I am.”

“Sit down.”

He pointed to the folding chair opposite. I sat down. He looked at me for about ten seconds. Then speak up.

"Tai Chi Hua family, 13th generation descendant. Master inherited from senior Hua Quoc An. Eight years old started standing attack, at the age of twelve he was able to open two veins, and at the age of fifteen he defeated six people in actual combat alone. Am I right?

My pupils constricted.

“You… investigated my grandfather?”

“Mr. Hua Quoc An, in the early days of the country's founding, taught classes for the army's special training course. Teaches shooting and close combat skills. Later, he retired to the garden, we thought the Tai Chi Hua family had disappeared."

He looked at me, the corner of his mouth slightly curled up. Not exactly a laugh. But there's no malice.